In this discussion, The Polygon’s Curator Elliott Ramsey is in conversation with !Kona Katranya about new, boundary-pushing forays into digital art. Inspired by the themes of Ghosts of the Machine, their ranging conversation will consider how artists are appropriating the new blockchain technologies, the possibility for artistic intervention on these emergent and arguably neoliberal platforms, and whether NFTs will ever be any good.

About Elliott Ramsey
Elliott Ramsey is Curator of The Polygon Gallery, on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ First Nations. He holds a Masters of Arts degree in Comparative Media Arts (2015) from Simon Fraser University. Ramsey’s experiences as mixed-race and gender-nonbinary inform his ongoing research into identity performance and formation, representations of hybridity and multiplicity in the visual arts, queerness, and feminism. Ramsey is a member of the Black Curators Forum and an alumnus of the Professional Alliance for Curators of Color.

About !Kona
!Kona is a Vancouver-based artist, writer, and activist. Her creative and social justice-oriented work has spanned arts/ cultural, queer, feminist, Leather, and Black communities for over 20 years.

!Kona identifies as a Black, Femme, Leatherdyke, Artist and highly engaged citizen currently existing on the unceded homelands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Skwxwú7mesh, and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ peoples. She considers herself part of a stolen people on stolen land. Historically masquerading as a lower mainland cultural bureaucrat by day, she has a history of compulsively organising and educating around the lives of Queers, BDSM practitioners, and Black folks. She is the co-creator of the interactive QueeriodicTable art project & experiential installation experienced in both Canada and the States. Currently she co-hosts BlackChat Vancouver.

Image: Elliott: Lauren Zbarsky / !Kona - Jen Sungshine